Accident
by LupinsGirlSA
Summary: She needed to know, it was his responsibility to inform her. He sighed and thought about early retirement. Rating for mentions of death.


Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended. All credit goes to Meg Cabot and Disney. If you see something you remember from the books or films, it does not belong to me. You can't sue me, I don't have any money.

Author's note: Just a little something that I've been burning to write since watching the films again last week. It's also my first fic in this category, so please be nice. My apologies if some of this seems a bit out of character. Mostly drama and angst.

Joe Romero was a military man. He showed no fear, never stood down and would not shy away from battle, he would fight and he would kill to protect the palace, the monarchy and most especially the queen. Not because he was paid handsomely for it, but because of his own loyalty and integrity. But here, now, tonight he wanted nothing more than to climb in his car and drive away, to disappear into the night and never look back, to leave this mess behind for someone else to clear up.

The storm from earlier had mostly passed, but he could still hear thunder in the distance as the sudden streak of bad weather blew over to the mountains, away from palace and the rest if the capital. The sorrow it had brought would take much longer to dissipate.

It was the first night in ages that he hadn't been on call, but he'd slept badly anyway and it only took a gentle knock on the door to wake him. He was out of bed as fast as the stiffness in his left knee allowed him and he flung open the door to find himself face to face with Shades, the young man he'd left in charge of the night shift. One look at the man was enough to tell him something had gone horribly wrong. Shades spoke as he got dressed, giving him the abbreviated version off the night's events without bothering with silly questions or apologies.

The prince was dead and one of his own men was in surgery, unlikely to survive the night.

He'd sent Shades away with a few hasty instructions and made his way to the eastern wing of the palace, to her suite. It was his responsibility to inform her.

The halls were dark and silent. Most of the inhabitants of the palace were still sound asleep and blissfully unaware of the latest tragedy to hit the Renaldi family.

The guards at the end the hallway simply moved out of his way as he approached, not waiting for him to give orders. He assumed they already new, but the usual q and a session and debriefing could wait until later, she had to be informed first.

He reached her door and came to a standstill, unwilling to proceed.

"Joe?"

Charlotte. Somebody must have had the sense to wake her. He motioned for his men to let her pass and she practically ran to him. She'd clearly dressed in a hurry. She wasn't wearing any make up and he decided not to mention the fact that her shoes didn't match.

"Is it true? Is the prince...?"

The rest of her question drifted away and he nodded. Charlotte floundered for a moment but recovered quickly. He noticed that her eyes were swimming with tears. She gave the door an apprehensive look.

"Would you like me to go in with you?"

He considered it for a moment, but decided against it.

"No. Go get some coffee and wait in the office, I'll let you know when to start making phone calls. The press secretary and the prime minister will need to be contacted, but her majesty should be told first."

"Of course, I'll put together a list of people who need to be called. Prince Pierre will need to be told as well, but I'm not sure who should do that."

He sighed and thought about early retirement.

"I'll let you know. Wait for me to contact you before you phone anybody, we can't confirm anything until the family has been notified."

She nodded and then turned away, quickly making her way passed the guards again. One of them gave him a questioning look but he shook his head and turned back to the door, twisting the doorknob before he could lose his nerve.

The suite was dark, but he knew the layout by heart. The suite was divided into two main parts: a large open plan lounge area and a small personal library, and the bed chamber with a dressing room and en suite bathroom.

He quietly weaved his way through the furniture, making his way to the closed door at the other side of the room. Her majesty's bed chamber was a private space that very few people were allowed the enter. As head of security he was one of those people, but he still avoided going inside without express permission. He knocked on the door, paused for a moment and knocked again. When there was still no response he twisted the doorknob and entered the room.

Maurice lifted his head and gave him a sleepy look, but he was clearly disinclined to either play or raise the alarm at this hour.

She was still asleep, curled up under the thick covers, and he kneeled on the floor by the side of the bed, despite the fact that his knee was protesting painfully against this sort of treatment.

"Your Majesty?"

There was no response, so he tried again, this time laying a hand gently on her shoulder over the covers.

"Ma'am? Clarisse?"

"Joseph? Joseph, what are you doing here? What time is it?"

"Nearly three, ma'am, I apologise for the intrusion."

She pushed herself up into a sitting position and tried to focus on his face with bleary eyes.

"What's wrong, Joseph, what happened?"

He swallowed thickly passed the lump in his throat and for the first time that night he could feel his own tears threatening to fall.

"Ma'am, I'm afraid I have some bad news. There's been an accident..."

Now please be kind and review, even if you hate the story, just let me know.


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